CHAPTER XII 



POULTRY KEEPING 



POULTRY, fruit growing and market gardening 

 is one of the best combinations for earning a 

 living on a small place in the country. All 

 three require close and constant attention. Some one 

 must be at home all the time that the work be promptly 

 done when needed, as a little neglect at the critical time 

 may result in great loss with either. 



The routine work of fruit growing and market gar- 

 dening was discussed in previous chapters and it re- 

 mains for us in this chapter to outline the work of 

 poultry growing. 



The poultry interest of the country is greater than 

 that of any other one branch of agriculture, the prod- 

 ucts amounting in a single year to over $360,000,000. 

 It has grown to this vast volume in a comparatively 

 short time, and there is hardly a country home where 

 hens, ducks, geese, or pigeons are not kept. Many 

 families produce their own supply of eggs and poultry, 

 others pay their grocery bills from the products of the 

 poultry yard, and still others obtain their entire sup- 

 port from their poultry; and there are large establish- 

 ments where thousands of fowls are kept and large 

 capital is invested in the equipment of extensive poul- 

 try houses and yards. 



A noticeable feature of the country poultry yard are the 

 fruit trees planted in it for the shelter of the fowls and 

 the production of large fruit (Fig. 6 1), raspberries, black- 

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